September 2011 Success Story

Melloy Nissan Sets Record Month, Increases Sales 310% and Moves into Top 20 Nationally for Nissan Melloy Nissan in Albuquerque, NM, set a record in July with its best sales month ever since Bob Melloy opened the doors to his Nissan dealership in 1964.

attract, sell, service and retain more customers and positively affect all their profit centers: new, used, finance, service and parts for less cost.

Outselling everyone in their district by more than twice the units in July, Melloy is up over 310 percent in sales, and has written more than 1,400 ROs for the same period in 2010 by applying a new sales and service strategy that is proving to

Like many dealers, Melloy Nissan faced the ongoing challenges of how to grow their dealership amidst uncertain market conditions, manufacturer inventory issues, and strong local competition, but their decision in late 2010 to

develop and implement a new marketing strategy for 2011 has had a significant impact on how their year is playing out.

Melloy started by taking a close look at their local market that included a comprehensive five-year historical analysis of its sales and service transactions to determine customer trends. Those findings were then compared to leading third-party and industry data to

Success Story establish consumer patterns within the local market. The results enabled Melloy to identify vehicle owners with the greatest probability of buying or servicing with their dealership. The research also pinpointed same-brand owners who had never visited Melloy Nissan, as well as, off-brand owners with a historical pattern of crossing over to Nissan.

“Rather than spend advertising dollars to talk to everyone in our region, we can now identify ready Nissan buyers and target them consistently every month for less money,” says Roy Benson, a 37-year veteran of the automotive industry and Gen-

eral Manager at Melloy Nissan. “We have seen a noticeable difference in consumer response rates and our sales are up anywhere from 82 percent to over 400 percent every single month since implementing this strategy in January,” adds Benson.

customer who regularly services with Melloy would receive an offer for $34.95 oil and filter change, but a customer who does not regularly service would receive an oil and filter change offer for $19.95 to persuade them to come back for service.

Melloy has been able to shift away from the more expensive traditional mass media, like television and radio, while directing that money toward strategies that generate the best response using consistent targeted communications with custom messaging that reflects the service status of the customer’s vehicle. A

“We’ve seen a 22 percent increase in total units serviced and our service department has written 1,465 more ROs year to date over 2010,” says Benson. “This is a very effective program.”

“Once a sale is made, Melloy does a phenomenal job of staying in

In a Nutshell Melloy Nissan Sets Record Month, Increases Sales 310% and Moves into Top 20 Nationally for Nissan Conduct in-depth market research to determine their perfect primary marketing area and identify in-market • consumers with the greatest statistical probability of purchasing or servicing with their store.

Consistently speak to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical • trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Implement a targeted marketing strategy using www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com to implement direct mail and • email campaigns that contain custom sales and service messaging relevant to a vehicle’s service status with the dealership.

Use in-store merchandising to create a cohesive look and feel for each monthly campaign and tie-together all • promotions.

Educate all sales staff on monthly campaigns and promotions; knowledgeable sales staff instill condence with • consumers.

Successfully attract, sell, service and retain more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their prot • centers: new, used, nance, service and parts.

Success Story

Promotional Materials

Success Story constant communication with their customers throughout the 60-month lifecycle of their vehicle,” says Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, the targeted marketing company Melloy Nissan uses.

“They use welcome messaging for recent purchasers, maintenance reminders for customers with vehicles that are not yet in-equity but are eligible for scheduled maintenance, as well as, ongoing mail and email communications to customers whose vehicles are in an equity position,” explains Blackburn.

Combining sales and service messaging also alleviates over-couponing the customer and ultimately saves the dealership money.

paign mailer or email, they immediately recognize there is a special event taking place at Melloy Nissan and they just happen to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the special promotion.

They use a cohesive marketing strategy that includes targeted direct mail and email with custom messaging that reflects the service status of the customer’s vehicle and in-store merchandising to tie everything together.

An important part of Melloy’s strategy is to make sure that their entire sales team is knowledgeable about every campaign, every month. Taking the time to review all the details, offers and promotions with the sales team helps instill confidence among customers. Additionally, they monitor their inbound calls to make sure that every customer is handled properly.

Melloy Nissan also promotes unique ad campaigns like the New Start Program where they reach out to credit-challenged consumers by offering a special ‘New Start Program’. They work closely with local banking institutions and lenders to help consumers who may not have Tier-1credit have the chance to buy a new car that’s affordable.

On average, most dealers pay approximately $150 to generate one lead. Melloy ensures that their marketing and advertising efforts turn into results by using toll-free 800 numbers on all their mail and email campaigns to monitor and track in-bound calls to ensure that every customer is handled with the utmost in customer care, courtesy and professional service; helping them to improve appointment ratios, and ultimately turning those appointments into sales.

No matter which campaign they run, Melloy Nissan now ties everything together with in-store point of sale merchandising that highlights their monthly campaigns. If a customer happens to visit the store without having received a cam-

Melloy is consistent in the households they target and they strive to reach their customers early every month, before their competition.

They focus on core models and use combined messaging that always delivers a sales and service message.

New Start Program